To Vivify Series Go to Gallery
 To Vivify (Oil Study 1) 2003 Oil on Canvas, 30"x40" (76.2 cm x 101.4cm) |
 To Vivify (Oil Study 2) 2003d Oil on canvas, 36"x48" (91.4cm x 121.9cm)30"x40" |
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| The above To Vivify series was inspired by a photo portrait of Vivienne Westwood, posed after Ingres' Odailesque. Struck by the strength and vitality of the woman of a certain age, I played with a new word, "to vivify," from the French verb, to live, "vivre," in connoting to add and/or give life, or to animate. After I painted this, I finished reading Susan Sontag's new book, Regarding Suffering. Remarkably, she also coined the verb as in Virginia Wolf's use of photographs "to vivify the condemnation of war, and may bring home, for a spell, a portion of its reality to those who have no experience of war at all." In 2004, I will commence the To Vivify portrait series of 20 strong women, and am in the process of soliciting commissions (and brave women sitters!) now. The oil technique I am using is derived from Caravaggio's chiascoro, limited palette, and use of Baroque glazes. | ||
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